Leslie Lu
by funnyjcutie
Summary: Leslie's homelife isn't the best. Her mother is a recovering alcoholic and she has no friends. One day her mother decides to send her to a boarding school where one event will change her forver.
1. The Awakening

The sun was shining high in the sky as the wind swept sweetly over the bluffs. It was a beautiful day but a dry day. There hadn't been rain in Chesapeake for a month and the air was dryer then ever. Over on Maple Street; 1421 Maple Street to be exact there was even less excitement then a drought.

It was a normal morning for Leslie Lu Owens. She awoke a minute or so before her alarm and waited in bed for it to go off. She looked around at her messy room. There were clothes sprawled across the floor; and her dresser drawers were all left open. Her room might have been messy but she liked it that way, she took one last glance around her room in admiration. She took note of the seashells she had collected from the beach that were neatly laid across her vanity, the orange beads dangling from her mirror that she wore every once in a while when she wanted to make a statement, and the new brown boots she got from her Grandmother that she still hadn't conjured up the courage to wear to school. She finally dragged herself out of bed and over to the bathroom and immediately went to the body mirror to examine her reflection. She was a pretty girl with sandy blonde hair of shoulder length, and too many freckles to count. She was short and rather awkward. She had a very distinct style that no one at school really understood so she was often made fun of for it. She decided to wear her blue pinstripe pants and a silk top with jasmine flowers. When she was done getting dressed she returned to the mirror to take one more glance before heading downstairs. Even though Leslie loved the clothes she was wearing she always found something she didn't like. In this case she didn't like how the button on her pants protruded to the point where you could see it through her shirt. She made the decision to change into a simple pair of blue jeans; which would also make her blend in more. After picking out a more acceptable outfit Leslie went downstairs. Before she went into the kitchen she hoped her mom (whom she referred to as Fiona) had opted to sleep in. Much to her disappointment Fiona was already in the kitchen pouring her some Count Chocula.

"Morning Fiona," Leslie sounded quite dismal, and unappreciative that Fiona had taken the time to "make" her breakfast.

"I poured you some cereal, eat up you need your strength for school." Fiona was rather cheery this morning, which is a change because usually she is inattentive to Leslie and just bids her farewell when she is halfway out the door.

"I'm not hungry, I ate late last night"

"Well just have a few bites incase you get hungry later"

"Fiona, I'm not hungry I don't want a few bites. What is your problem? You never pay this much attention to me…ever. Are you on drugs?"

"Leslie, all I'm trying to do is be a good mother there is never anything wrong with change. I know I have made some mistakes in the past and I'm very sorry for that but we can't change that if you don't work with me. So I need you to work with me."

"I'm going to be late for school" Leslie rolled her eyes and grabbed an apple as she walked out the door.

She didn't know whether to be upset or amused with the display that Fiona put on in the kitchen. The part that was amusing was the caring mother, crack cocaine smile she displayed. The upsetting part was realizing every time she went home Fiona was going to attempt to have quality time with her. Quality time. Just the though made bile rise in her throat. Leslie decided to take the long way to school since she left early to escape the wrath of Fiona. She walked along the rocky bluffs which took her about 10 minutes out of her way. That was one thing she loved about Chesapeake, the ocean. Sometimes at sunset she would come out to the bluffs and watch the tide rise while listening to slow songs on her ipod. Leslie would have given anything to stay at the bluffs all day, but she didn't have the courage to skip school. As she approached school, Fulton High school to be exact, home of the Buccaneers, she felt an anchor drop in her stomach and her mouth became dry. She hated school, not because it was school but because no one there really understood her. Of course there were her _friends _who she shared the latest Fiona crisis with and who she spent time with outside of school, and then the occasional person in the hallway that she knew briefly, but she was disappointed that she had no one to truly call a best friend in a school of 3,000. She felt as if she lived her whole life just watching, never really acting, like she existed but never lived. Every year her new year's resolution would be get involved, make more friends, get a boyfriend, but the truth was she never acted on her goals because she really didn't care.

Leslie put her ipod on before she walked through the towering steel doors, to avoid any meaningless conversation that she might get stuck in. She wasn't anti-social she just wasn't very patient. Leslie's locker was way at the other end of the school, so she had to walk by all the kids that hated her (the feelings were mutual) and be subject to scrutiny every step she took. Leslie didn't care so much if people talked behind her back, but right in front of her made her feel naked in a room of hundreds. She finally reached her locker but it didn't help that Johnny Morgan was hanging around right next to it. How she wished with all the desire she could conjure up that he was waiting for her, but the truth was they had never even exchanged words before. He was a popular boy, she was vapor. This was one of those crushes Leslie wished she didn't have. Her feelings just developed one day, and suddenly he was everywhere making it extremely difficult for her to forget about him. She tried not to stare as she approached her locker but the moment she looked at him, he looked over at her. This sudden eye contact scared her and she immediately looked down at her ipod pretending to change the song. The second she looked down she ran into someone coming out of a classroom and made a total fool of herself. Days like this are what made her really hate school. Leslie grabbed the few books she needed out of her locker, and since her friends were nowhere in sight she decided to sit outside and read a book until the first period bell. Leslie made her way out the doors and to a bench in the sun. She opened her book ad sat there just enjoying the warm sun beating down on her face, and admiring the lives of others around her. It saddened Leslie that so many people just walked by without even acknowledging her presence, but it let her know where she stood in the way of things. She was a total loser, barely any friends, no boyfriend, reading a book when there are 2,999 other kids to talk to. But then something happened. It was Johnny! Walking right towards her, she looked right back at her book just waiting, then she glanced up again and He was getting closer, the next thing she knew he was standing right in front of her. Leslie's hart leapt for joy so many things were racing through her mind at one time. At that moment she wished she had picked the bench in the shade so he wouldn't notice her cheeks turning beat red.

"Hi" said Johnny sounding rather rushed

"Hi Johnny" Leslie sounded like a stripper and she immediately regretted her tone of voice. She knew now the red in her face wouldn't tone down until after he left.

"I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to-"

Leslie wanted to jump up and thank God for everything he had ever done for her. The guy of her dreams was finally asking her out. She needed an outfit to wear on their date, her normal hum drum clothes wouldn't do. Maybe, she thought she could find something to with the boots her grandmother got her.

"I'd love to!"

"Great!"

"Did you want to sit down?"

"Yeah," Johnny just kind of stared at her for a moment. Leslie was confused she didn't understand why he was being so awkward. "It's just that, I was wondering if you could move to that bench over there so me and my friends can all fit on one bench"

Leslie glanced over at the bench sitting by itself in a corner of depressing shade.

"Oh, sure I was just about to move."

"Thanks again, uh"

She couldn't believe it! He had the nerve to come over and ask her to move and he didn't even know her name!

"Leslie! My name is Leslie"

"Right, thanks Leslie!"

Leslie felt more saddened then ever and now she really wished that she had picked the bench in the shade.


	2. Not too fond of memories

The walk home was rather painful. Leslie tried to put the incident in the morning behind her for the day so she could focus on her studies, get good grades, graduate early, go to college, and escape Fiona. She put her ipod in her ears and took the long way home again. The more she tried to block Johnny from her mind the more her memory teased her. She was miserable all day but on the walk home the tears started flowing. The warm water dripping from her eyes made her cheeks sticky and it annoyed her, she sat down on a big rock by the bluffs and waited for this wave of emotion to pass, because there was no possible way she could go home with red eyes without Fiona calling the parent hotline. After she calmed down (which took considerably long) she headed for home, hoping once again that Fiona would not be there. She walked through the door and Fiona's purse and keys weren't there. The kitchen was a mess. There were coffee stains all over the black and white tile. The room was small and dismal to begin with and there wasn't much lighting. A small lamp hung over the table that gave the kitchen an orange glow, hiding some of the floors stains. The counters were full of crumbs probably from Fiona making a quick sandwich before she left. The peanut butter and jelly were still out which meant Fiona wouldn't be home till late and there was probably and peanut butter and jelly peace offering waiting for her in the refrigerator. There were dishes piled up just waiting for Leslie to wash them. The dishes had to wait, her stomach was making noise all day so she pulled a healthy choice dinner from the freezer and set the microwave for four and a half minutes. She wanted to go upstairs and change straightaway because she was extremely bloated and wanted to get into her silk pajama pants. It was hotter then hell in the house and she was sweating heavily. She walked over to the thermostat only to find it was broken, anger swelled up in her gut. With the day she had today and no air conditioning at home she decided to call Fiona.

"Fiona! How many times do I have to tell you to fix the damn thermostat! It is so effin hot in this house, and I am sweating, it's disgusting! I wouldn't be surprised if my cold- oh I'm sorry my hot dead body is sprawled across the floor when you get home!" she slammed the phone down on the receiver and went back to the kitchen to retrieve her healthy choice from the microwave. She just realized that the voice mail she left was overly dramatic, but it didn't matter because Fiona deleted all of the voicemails from Leslie before even listening to them, which was one of a million factors that made her a bad mother. Leslie walked back into the kitchen to retrieve her dinner from the microwave only to find that the sauce from the chicken parmesan had splattered all over the inside, she didn't bother cleaning it up, she wasn't in the mood. After she devoured her meal there was nothing left to do that evening. There was no homework, nothing on TV, and she still didn't have her driver's license (which wouldn't make a difference anyway because she didn't have a car) , her cat Ravioli was still missing and the cop that came over last week wasn't making great strides to find him.

"Don't worry miss we'll find your cat!" the cop wasn't to reassuring but Leslie wasn't worried, Ravioli could live off his body fat for a week. After running through that debacle in her mind Leslie couldn't help going over the events that had taken place this morning. How could someone be so mean and ask her to move? She really hated her school and everyone at it because they had no respect for her. She had no reason to stay, Ravioli was gone and Fiona wasn't worth a second of your time. She thought about running away, maybe going someplace remote, like Canada, making new friends and having a life of her own. Leslie wasn't stupid she knew well enough from the gossip around the school that running away always turned out badly. If she couldn't run away, and she couldn't drive Leslie figured she could go for a walk, she didn't want to go to the bluffs because they always brought out her most depressing thoughts, and the last thing she wanted on her mind was Johnny. She made her way through the piles Fiona was "planning" to take to the buffalo exchange, put on her ipod and walked out the door. She turned on some Nsync and started walking like she was Queen. Her neighbors and people on the bike path were all staring at her and laughing, maybe she looked a little too cocky she thought she might need to tone it down. She picked some indie music and started again, but people were still laughing! She did a quick nonchalant glance behind her and there was no one. Then it hit her, she forgot to change out of her pajama pants and the shirt that some of the sauce from her dinner splashed onto. She made a mad dash back to the house and threw on her jeans from earlier today and an old Billy Joel concert shirt. She felt like such an idiot and decided she really didn't want to face those people again, so she decided to go out the front door and go a different way instead of passing the bluffs. She was heading towards the boardwalk which was the more colorful part of town. There was a fruit market, panhandlers, drug dealers, stoners, and the occasional hippie screaming at her to stop the war. Leslie always thought those people were stupid because why shout at her? Does she look like anyone in a position of power? She put on her ipod straight away so if people asked her to sample things or step into the dark corner she could pretend she didn't hear them. Surprisingly there was no one out on the boardwalk this early, the shops were closed and the drug deals didn't start until dark. There were a few panhandlers but they didn't give her any trouble. Leslie didn't exactly know where she was going or where she wanted to end up so she just kept walking. She crossed the same bridge about four times and she wouldn't have noticed but the panhandlers told her to get lost if she wasn't giving them any money. Leslie really was lost now, Fiona didn't have a car so they never really left their part of town, much. She had been to the hospital a few times when Fiona got hammered and injured herself in a drunken rage, but that was a long time ago and she barely remembered the details. She decided to head back home, because if she didn't beat Fiona home, she might call the cops, she knew this because it had happened so many times before the cops stopped showing up. Leslie made her way back around the bluffs and up the walk to her back door. She walked in and the kitchen was spotless! The tile was free of coffee stains, waxed, and shined. The kitchen counters had been scrubbed and the sticky peanut butter residue had been removed. All the jackets were hung neatly on the coat rack, and the piles of clothes had been taken to the buffalo exchange. Leslie looked around more and noticed little details, there was no dust on the shelves, and there were still lines on the carpet from where Fiona had vacuumed. Leslie knew it was a fact; Fiona had to be on something.

"Hello, my sweet!" said Fiona rather cheery, with a huge grin on her face

"Fiona, what are you doing?" Leslie only asked because these recent moods Fiona sprang into were frightening her, she started running over possible mental disorders in her mind; schizophrenia was not out of the question.

"I'm cleaning silly, can't you see that?"

"Yes Fiona, I can see that you're cleaning but what are you doing in the larger sense?"

"Well, since you asked I'm renting out the basement"

"Renting out?"

"Yes, renting out"  
"Renting out?"

"Yes"

"As in…"

"As in, someone will be living in our basement."

"As in, a stranger? In our basement?"

"Well, yes but we'll get to know them in time."

"So why clean the rest of the house?"

"Because the basement won't rent out if the upstairs looks, the way it did."

"So let me get this straight, you are renting out the basement, a part of my home-"

"Our home"

"Yeah whatever! OUR home, to a stranger that we are going to have to share the rest of the house with?"

"Yes! Isn't it exciting?"

"No, it really isn't"

"Look, I know this must sound strange to you, but I'm having trouble making ends meet, and this will help us survive financially."

"You, could get another job"

"I already have two."

"You could go back to school."

"I don't have the money."

Leslie didn't have the strength to argue anymore, so she walked upstairs and slammed her door. She was sure of one thing; she would be dammed if she had some stranger living in HER house.


	3. the sending off

_**Normally I would be positively cheery about the fact that I have nothing to do on a day like this, but at this very moment my eye lids feel like two bowling balls, they are just weighing me down. Today has been dragging on hour after hour, it is presently 2 pm and I have another 40 minutes to look forward to. Today was utterly uneventful; the normal day began with waking up early, getting yelled at by Anna who was in a drunken rage, and accidentally gave me 50 bucks and proceeding to school where people who are a total waste of oxygen breezed passed me, but luckily I am tired otherwise I would have to come up with some crude remark to mumble under my breath as they walked past. How is school going? I'll call Fiona tonight and ask her if I can come down next week. Hopefully I'll catch her when she's totally wasted. Maybe we can take a trip to Boothbay. Take care until then, dearest cousin. **_

_**Love,**_

_**Madeline **_

Madeline was one of the very few people who understood Leslie. She was so lucky to have her as a cousin maybe that was why they were so good together. Fiona and Anna (her Aunt from the southeast projects) were both completely messed up. Whatever one did the other followed suit. Gambling problems, alcohol dependency, AA meetings, and the things that came with it Madeline could relate. Perhaps another good reason as to why they got along. Leslie could remember times when Madeline was there for her when no one else was; she was her rock, her big strong rock that lived very far away and who wrote every so often. She knew she could come to Madeline with any problem and she wouldn't judge, she was always there to listen. Immediately after reading the letter Leslie got up and marked the following week on her calendar so she remembered to make up the pull out couch for Madeline's arrival.

"Leslie!!" She heard her name echoing from the downstairs

"WHAT??" Leslie didn't ant to be bothered but she knew if she ignored Fiona, things would escalade into another argument.

"Dinner, come downstairs and wash up."

Leslie slowly dragged her body down the stairs and into the kitchen where yet another surprise awaited her. The table was set in a fancy way almost like something in a home decorating magazine. There were beautiful silk napkins embroidered with filigree, two dinner plates across from each other each with a smaller salad plate stacked on top. The plates were made of delicate china with a gold rim. There were wine glasses out, one with wine (obviously for Fiona) and the other with water and a beautifully cut lemon wedge on the side. Two candles lay in the center of the table Leslie could tell they were brand new because there were no wax chunks on the side of it. Leslie was overwhelmed by all the smells hitting her at once, she smelt chicken she figured that was what they were having simply because that was one of the only things Fiona knew how to make, there was the overpowering scent of lemon, so Leslie put two and two together by the box of lemon cake mix sitting on the counter. Then she got the light stench of pine, she figured it was from the candles.

"What's all this?" Leslie said in disarray

"Dinner, sit." Fiona held a bowl of salad with one hand and pulled Leslie's chair out with the other. Hesitantly she sat down and allowed Fiona to push her chair closer to the table. "Salad, for you" Fiona took her serving tongs and gave Leslie a heaping plate of crispy greens complete with onions and cherry tomatoes. "Now what kind of dressing would you like? I have French, western, Caesar, and Ranch."

"I'll take Cesar, please." Leslie almost choked on that word, please, don't misunderstand its not that she wasn't polite it's just that she never really used it in a conversation with Fiona.

Dinner was essentially awkward. The food was delicious the chicken with a crisp golden coating, garlic mashed potatoes, corn, and the lemon cake for dessert, hit the spot, it was just what Leslie needed. Although she would have enjoyed the dinner much more had she been at the table by herself, not eating by candlelight with Fiona. As Leslie finished up her few bites of cake, she decided to bring up Madeline, since the dinner seemed to be going fairly well.

"So I got a letter from Madeline today" Leslie wanted to seem as calm and collected as possible so it didn't seem like she wanted something.

"Oh did you!? How is that girl, its been such a while since we've seen her" Fiona's fake sense of care annoyed Leslie, but this wasn't the time to pick a fight

"She's good, and actually that's why she wrote. She was hoping to come down next week and stay with us for a while."

"No"

"What?"

"Don't get me wrong Leslie it's a lovely idea but I can't have a house guest with the position I'm in at the moment."

"She's not a house guest she's family. And what position are you in?"

"You know I'm trying to rent out the downstairs, and how am I going to do that if someone is living in it?"

"She can stay down there until someone want to rent it out."

"I don't think that would work, the place needs to stay clean incase we have a unannounced visitor who wants to look at it."

"Please, look if she can't stay downstairs I'll put an air mattress in my room, she can sleep there."

"Leslie, sweetheart-"Fiona put her hand on top of Leslie's and Leslie was about to pull away, but she was in no position to be a bitch especially if she wanted Madeline to come. "I know you and Madeline are very good friends, and I love the girl but now isn't a good time for a family member to come and stay with us."

"Why!?"

"Well, because I have other plans for us."

"Other plans?"

"Yes, and they happen to be good ones."

"Oh I would really love to hear about this, let me guess, are we running away and joining the circus?" said Leslie with quite a sarcastic tone while she leaned back on her chair and waited to hear what kind of interesting spin Fiona was going to put on this one.

"Well, it seems to me that you have been having some trouble lately, with school and life at home."

"Wow, I can't get anything past you!"

"Just hear me out. Now I think the best thing for you would be a clean break, from, well, it all."

Leslie's heart sunk, a multitude of things began running through her mind, she either had a new boyfriend or she wanted Leslie to be home schooled. Leslie wouldn't have either one. It was eminent she would plan her run away for Canada tonight!

"A clean break, you aren't getting married to some rich geriatric are you?"

"No, look sweetheart you aren't going to like this at first, but trust me you'll thank me in the long run."

"Thank you, thank you for what?"

"Well, it looks like a really good place."

Fiona slid a brochure towards Leslie on the table; she glanced at the cover which read

HUNNINGTON ACADEMY FOR GIRLS

Leslie stood up from the table and let it out!

"What is this?!" Leslie was so angry she had so much to say

"It's a really great boarding school for girls, I got you a full scholarship, and looks like you're good grades paid off after all."

"What the hell, god damn you! I can't believe this. You are actually going to send me away?"

"I really do think its best"

"Best for who? You? Oh yeah that's right it must be best for you because that's all you ever think about…yourself! You are such a bitch Fiona, I can't believe you hate me so much that you are just dumping me at some prep school."

"I don't hate you, I love you, and I'm not dumping you."

"Let me go live with Madeline and Anna, I won't bother them I swear!"

"I'm sorry sweetheart everything is already set, the bus will pick you up Wednesday morning and take you down to Freeport."

"It's in Freeport?"

"That's five hours away, I can't commute!"

"Commute? You won't need to; you will be staying there for the remainder of the year."

"Remainder, school just started a month ago!"

"Yes, I know that Leslie."

Leslie just stood there; she knew she couldn't run away because she would just get arrested. This was the first time in her life where she couldn't fight back against the evil Fiona.

"I'm not going!" Tears started to swell up In her eyes, and her voice began to quiver.

"Sweetheart," Fiona tried to grab her hand but she pulled away

"Screw you, I AM NOT GOING!"

Leslie ran up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door. She spent all night in her room, letting her warm tears and running makeup stain her blue pillow. Leslie couldn't believe that her life, the most boring life in the world was starting to spiral apart.


	4. Dead end

The morning chill was whipping around Leslie's face. Her cheeks were numb, but then again so was her mind. She couldn't believe she let Fiona win. As she stood on the corner waiting for the bus with her three suitcases, backpack, and purse she had serious thoughts of going to the farther corner an buying a ticket for the Greyhound that was scheduled to leave at the same time. Leslie wondered what Hunnington Academy would be like. She figured it would be no different then her school now except with uniforms, and the simple fact that she would never get to leave. She could only imagine what he roommate would be like, she assumed it would be someone that reminded her of a fellow classmate in Chesapeake, which could only mean they wouldn't get along. But that was the end of her dark thoughts. Leslie promised herself when she was packing last night in her room, that she wouldn't worry until she got there and saw that there was something she needed to worry about. Leslie could see head lights coming up over the hill in the fog that was beginning to thin. It was like any other school bus you would see, except this one said Hunnington Academy for Girls on the side. This was it, the moment of truth. Once she stepped on that bus her fate was sealed. She couldn't go back, because they would probably shoot her down. Then horrid images of her body with a pool of blood lying on the cold cement ran through her mind so she immediately began thinking of the first thing that came to her, which wasn't any better. That too quickly dissipated when she reached the top step of the bus and saw that it was completely empty. Leslie thought that maybe this was some sick bus driver fantasy, and that he planned to handcuff her to the back seat, and then dump her body. Sweat began to form on her brow.

"Hello, miss-" The Bus Driver looked down at his list, quickly to verify that he was picking up the right person "Leslie, and welcome back to Hunnington"

"This is my first year actually, I'm new, and coming against my will."

"Well, that makes two of us! I'm new as well but not coming against my will, its good to see that I'm not alone."

"Well technically you are alone, there isn't a soul on this bus."

"Yeah, I'm surprised you even go to Hunnington, no one from around here really goes to school that far away."

"It's called having a mother that hates you."

Before the bus driver got a chance to say something all adult-y like 'I'm sure you're mother loves you very much, you have nothing to worry about' she made her way to the very back corner of the bus where she couldn't be surrounded.

Leslie slipped on her ipod and enjoyed the peace and quite, before all the drama began. The ride was fairly smooth; they made a few stops and picked up a total of six girls. They took the interstate for about 3 hours, and the rest was just back roads until they arrived in Freeport. It was a quaint little town with lots of shops, but Hunnington wasn't in the heart of Freeport, it was just outside of it. They began to pull up the drive, and all Leslie saw was a brick like castle that looked like it should belong to a Queen. She thought for sure this was the wrong place, because Fiona could never afford a place like this. The bus driver told the girls that their bags would be brought to their dorms, and that they should immediately go to the main office. Leslie didn't waste time walking with the other girls, she walked fast ahead of the group and found the office on her own, about 10 minutes before anyone else from her group. The office was very bright, and the smell of freshly copied papers overwhelmed her. There was a nicely set up waiting area complete with couch ,school appropriate magazines, and a coffee cart that had those little sugar cubes she loved so much. Leslie popped one in her mouth, admiring the sweet taste of the sugar as it separated in her mouth and rested softly on her tongue.

"May I help you young lady?" There was a rather old but very cute man behind the main desk, Leslie felt slightly sorry for him, because it looked as if he had a hard time getting around.

"Yes, my name is Leslie Owens and I was told to come here; I'm new."

"Ok lets see here, got you!" The old man checked Leslie's name off the list and handed her what felt like a 20 pound folder filled with papers. "This is everything you need to start here at Hunnington. There is a bit of background on the school, your dorm information, rules, regulations, schedules, extra curriculars, and some other stuff you probably don't want."

"Ok, um which way are the dorms?"

"You're going to take a right out of here, then walk all the way to the end of this corridor, cross the courtyard, and your dorm is in building 9c."

"Ok, thank you."

Leslie crossed the courtyard and found building 9c. She gazed down at her sheet and saw that her dorm was number 456. She continued to walk further down the hall, and turned left, which took her to a dead end.

"Shit."


	5. Finding her way

It took Leslie considerably long to find her room, and she would have stopped to ask for help but she was way to shy, so she was on her own. Finally she located her dorm only to find out that she would be rooming by herself. Leslie was ecstatic! Maybe Fiona did her one good thing by getting her a private room. She took one look around the room and defiantly was not impressed. The walls consisted of white cement blocks, the carpet was dirty, and at first glance she thought the bathroom was a closet. Leslie saw some papers on the dresser; she opened it up to find it was more welcoming garbage:

_Hello, and welcome to the Hunnington dorms. We are glad you have chosen to stay with us while you attend our top of the line college prepatory school. We have provided you with a bed, dresser, medicine cabinet, table, and chairs. We would ask that while you stay in our facilities that you treat this furniture with care and respect, because any damaged things will need to be replaced by the person responsible. If you have any questions call the admissions office Monday-Friday._

Leslie immediately stopped reading. She could really care less, she was not in the best mood considering that it was Saturday, she was in a strange place, with no friends, possibly subject to some hate crime, and she had no food. When Leslie was packing last night Fiona barged in (without knocking) and gave her three visa gift cards. One for food, one for hygiene products, and one for emergencies, it was made quite clear to her that she would not be given new gift cards until Fiona came up to visit next semester, so Leslie couldn't use them for her own purposes, which really disappointed her. She glanced in the pamphlet to check the hours on the cafeteria, only to find that it had closed an hour ago. Leslie decided stressing out would not help her in this situation so she decided to go to bed and let things play out.

ONE MONTH LATER (NARRATED BY LESLIE)

I have to admit this place really isn't so bad once you find your bearings. Except for one little detail, the brochure totally lied, this school is UNISEX!!! Sure I'm rooming alone in the old and dusty corner of the dorms, but the classes are a lot easier then back home, I have so much freedom, and I don't have to come home to a drunken mother every evening. Now having spent a full month here I am pretty knowledgeable on the campus and how the student body operates. I have made a few friends (enough to keep me from being depressed) there is Lisa, who is quite outspoken and has a general stereotype for anyone in the school, she gets me and I get her, I've known her for almost a month now so I can comfortably call her my best friend. There is Jennifer who is the quiet girl, who doesn't have many friends here but she claims to have a lot back home, she has her funny moments and is completely mysterious, which I love by the way! Then there are the people who I seem to run into a lot around campus. Tom Fells who is in all of my classes, he is tall with sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, and plays basketball. I have had a crush on him for a few weeks, but I have never talked to him, so hopefully this crush won't last long. Then there is Jonathan Comdilan, who is good friends with Tom, Jonathan is heavy set with sandy blonde hair and brown eyes, he is also the biggest jerk I have ever met. He thinks it's funny to point out people's insecurities and play off them. My god it's scary to think my life is actually starting to come together.

THE NEXT DAY

Leslie woke up in a daze, but she felt extremely hungry so she quickly threw on sweat pants and a t-shirt and ran down to the cafeteria before all the good breakfast was gone. She was one of the first people in the cafeteria which excited her, because nothing annoyed Leslie more then all the good food being taken when she was almost to the front of the line. All the buffet trays were perfectly filled to the top, and the counter was shiny, and still damp from the wet rag they wash it with. Leslie had many options there were eggs, bacon, toast, cereal, French toast, pancakes, fruit salad, waffles, and a wide assortment of tropical juices. Leslie decided to go with waffles and bacon. She was so tired of worrying about her weight so she didn't care that she picked the worst thing in the buffet.

"Hey Leslie!" cried Lisa from a table across the room. Leslie made her way over to the table in the back corner and was soon joined by Jennifer.

"Hey Lisa, what's up?" Leslie's voice was still a bit groggy

"You will never believe what I just heard from across the table, Tom Fells is dating Madeline as of last night."

Madeline was one of the popular girls, blonde hair, ultra white teeth, and a tan so bad her skin was orange!

"Oh my god really?" Leslie began to laugh and make fun of the couple with Lisa, but inside she was a bit sad because the guy she was really starting to like had a girlfriend.

"It's a match made in heaven, he's dumber than rocks, and she is faker then imitation crab meat!"

"Oh, god Lisa that was such a crap analogy!"

Lisa started to laugh "yeah it was kind of stupid."

Even though all Lisa could do at lunch was tear down on Tom she did agree with some of the things she said. It was true Tom wasn't smart at all and he often made that fact known with his barely acceptable grades, and all too often stupid questions.

"Do you guys think Tom is cute?" Jennifer finally interjected

"Are you kidding!!?? No he is so ugly; I don't understand why anyone would want to date him."

"Yeah I know! Maybe Madeline is blind and can't see how ugly he is!"

The whole table began to laugh as Leslie spout out more venom directed at Tom. She couldn't help but laugh; she knew she could never tell her friends how she felt. Leslie began to wonder if there was ever a time in her life when things could just work out.


	6. The last straw

After the drama at lunch last week, Leslie was doing all she could to avoid Tom Fells, because every time her friends bad mouthed him, the less she liked him, and the more she wanted to make fun of him. It was time for chemistry, the most dreaded class of the day, mainly because Leslie had no friends in that class, she only occasionally talked to Hunter McMillan, because they had a few things in common, and because he was a pretty nice guy but other than that Leslie was a loner in a world of complete outsiders. She took the seat in the front corner next to Hunter simply because she had no other option.

"Ok, everyone needs to be quiet!" Mrs. Zeller was an awkward lady who really had no self confidence, except for when it came to Chemistry "Today we are going to get new seats next to our lab partners, Leslie looked around and saw Tom Fells in the back corner. She immediately blushed when their eyes met and she whipped her head back around to the front of the room. Mrs. Zeller read off two or three names before she said,

"Ok, let me see here, Leslie Owens, you will be paired with Tom Fells."

Leslie's heart sank, she was waiting for the laughter and groans from the back of the room but none came. Leslie felt comforted that she wasn't nearly as hated here as much as her other school, but part of her was a bit disappointed that she was paired with Tom. Leslie picked up her things and made her way over to lab station 2A which was the one she was assigned to. Tom came a few seconds later and made no attempt to make any conversation, so they sat in silence until the lab started. They worked in silence except for the occasional exchange of words, when they needed to decide on something together. When the lab was finally finished Leslie knew she was going to need to be the first one to speak up.

"Um, so when are we gonna do the lab report?" asked Leslie sounding very self conscious

"Uh, I don't know" Tom was so disinterested he just walked away from the table, and Leslie let him. She knew she had no place to speak up, so she would do the report, and have to accept things for the way they were going to be all semester!

Leslie went right back to her dorm after chemistry and there was a voicemail from Fiona:

"Leslie? Its mom, I was just calling to see how things were going at school this week. You'll be very happy to hear that I rented out the basement to a man named Joseph and his daughter Abigail, they are both very charming and I think when you finally meet, you will like them very much! Now I noticed that your visa bucks card for lunch is almost gone you know you aren't supposed t" Leslie stopped the tape, she couldn't bear to listen to anymore, she was tired and she just wanted to take a shower and go to bed. She hopped in the shower and at first the hot water stung her skin, but then it felt soothing as the warm water trickled down her back, and the sent of lavender filled the shower from her body washed. Leslie just stood there and let the hot water run over her body, this was her idea or relaxation, something she could never do at home, because if she was in the shower for longer than 10 minutes Fiona thought she was committing suicide. After she got out of the shower Leslie quickly threw on pajamas, and didn't even take the time to comb threw her hair. She just threw the wet hair over her shoulder and onto her blue pillow, and quickly fell asleep.

The next few weeks, went on without and big turn of events. Leslie continued to do all the work in Chemistry, her crush on Tom had finally gone away and now she much enjoyed bad mouthing him, and Fiona called more to bitch at her.

"Hey Leslie!" Lisa called out from across the courtyard and quickly ran to catch up with her "where are you going?'

"I have chemistry"

"Oh that sucks"

"Tell me about it, everyone I hate packed together in one class, plus having a complete dumb ass for a lab partner doesn't help."

Lisa just started to laugh "well have fun with that"

Leslie worked through another lab with Tom and she spoke up once again like every other week.

"So when did you want to work on the lab report?"

"Uh, can you do this next one and I promise I'll catch up to you."

"Look I think we need to start working on things together."

"I know but I'm really busy with other stuff this week."

"I think you should make time you haven't done a single lab report, you don't help me with labs, and you are just plain rude!" Tom just stood there wide eyed staring into space. "See!? And now you aren't even listening."

"Sh."

"Don't tell me to be quiet!"

"No look"

Leslie looked over and she saw Hunter looking all suspicious over in the corner, she didn't make anything of it, but then she saw him pull out a gun from his backpack.


	7. Lock Down

As the smoke cleared in the room SWAT entered, followed by Detective Dignan and his team. The detective looked around observing what he could with the smoke from the gas grenade still thick in the air. He could make out the layout of the room, which he immediately recognized from the blueprints he was given earlier. He saw bodies sprawled across the floor, he couldn't tell if they were still breathing or not, and then one body in the center with a pool of blood around the head. The sight of the classroom made him feel sick. He immediately bent down and checked for a pulse on the first few kids on the floor, there wasn't one…

"I need medic in here NOW!"

6 HOURSE EARLIER

The silver shell on the large gun buried just beneath the inside of the backpack paralyzed Leslie; she didn't know what to do.

"Maybe it's not real; you never know I don't think Hunter is the type of person to do that kind of thing." Even Leslie had trouble believing herself

"No way this kid would bring a fake gun like that to school and just happen to pull it out, and then second guess himself, it's gotta be real." Tom really wasn't very reassuring either and Leslie didn't know what to believe. Hunter was her friend, she wanted to believe the best in him; Tom on the other hand was one of the last people Leslie felt she could ever trust. She thought about it and realized even if it was fake, that had to be the worst joke in the world, and made anger swell in her gut.

"Ok well, we have to do something regardless of if it's real or not."

"You're friends with him you do it!"

"SHHHH!!" Leslie wanted to be a discreet as possible, the last thing she wanted to do was make a scene. And the fact that Tom started to get upset really didn't help matters much.

"Go talk to him, he will listen to you."

"I don't think he will, I mean we've talked a few times but we aren't friends by any means, maybe he would think you going up to him was a sign of respect and he'll forget the whole thing."

"No way, I'm not getting shot!"

"No one is gonna get shot, look if we go together you have to talk."

"What the heck do you want me to say to the kid?"

"Just reassure him that it isn't necessary to get violent."

"Ok, let's go"

Leslie followed Tom out from around the lab station and they walked slowly over to the desk where Hunter was standing. Everything seemed to go slow to Leslie, she looked at all the people working smiling or laughing and realized there was no way this could be real. It was obviously some misunderstanding and Hunter would find it quite comical.

"Hey! Hunter" They weren't off to a good start, Tom really didn't sound too respectful, but Leslie would let him handle this on his own, she was distracted by the group in the corner who had just broken their third test tube and Leslie thought since she was nearby she would help them clean it up. Since her back was to Hunter Leslie had no idea hat transpired in those few seconds, but before she knew it someone had fallen on top of her, forcing her cheek and wrists into the glass, cutting them instantly. From her forced position on the ground she could hear Marcy Lemits screaming her head off! Leslie made her way up from her face down position and propped herself up against a lab station. The warm red liquid was squirting from her palm and she could see little shards of glass inside the shallow wound. She immediately grabbed fro some paper towel and pushed it hard against her wrist. When she finally caught her breath and looked up, Hunter was in the corner with a gun pointed at the majority of the class.

"Dude what are you doing?!" Said Peter McMillan from behind Tom

"What the hell does it look like? You people think you own the whole school; that you can just walk over people like me whenever you want! I am so sick and tired of feeling little all the time, and just for once I want you to know what it feels like, everyone here deserves to die!" Hunter was screaming and crying at the same time, but between the sobs and shrieks Leslie knew he was serious. She finally felt ok to stand up. "Except you Leslie, I never wanted to hurt you, my god," Hunter looked at Leslie with compassion, he arms had blood dripping down them and her neck was soaked in blood from her cheek. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Hunter, but what do you think you're doing?" Leslie felt tears well up in her eyes, but she knew she had to be strong not only for Hunter, but for the rest of the kids in the class.

"These people don't deserve life, the way they've treated me- us! How can you honestly sit here and defend them? I never meant for you to be here, so leave right now!" Leslie looked at the open doorway and she knew that Mrs. Zeller would be back any second; she had to think of a plan fast.

"I'm not going anywhere Hunter; I'm going to stay with you"

"No you can't be here for this; I can't do this with you here."

"Please! I'll go instead!" Marcy screamed as her face was soaked in tears

"No shut the fuck up! No one leaves, get up!" Hunter pointed the gun at Marcy and was yelling at her to get up from her spot on the floor "I said get up!" When she finally got up, she had a look of disgust on her face; the whole class was frightened so naturally no one had the courage to stick up for her. "Close the door and lock it!" Marcy did as she was instructed and then stood over by her boyfriend Peter, who provided her with little comfort.

The only escape from this nightmare was now gone and they were locked in here, with Hunter. Leslie knew it wouldn't be long until the police arrived because Mrs. Zeller would hear the commotion from inside the locked door and immediately go for help.

"Now, if some of you want to live don't try anything, because the first person that does is going to get everyone killed."

About 20 minutes went by and everyone was just standing there while Hunter pointed the gun at the crowd, until the faint sound of sirens went off in the distance.

"Who the fuck called the cops!?" All the students looked around at each other, immediately worried that Hunter was going to shoot them all. Hunter pointed the gun to the back of Peter's head, "I'll ask one more time, who called the fucking cops?"

"Hunter!" Leslie knew if she didn't interject someone would die, "No one called the cops, Mrs.Zeller was locked out remember? When she heard all the yelling she probably called them, look you knew they were going to show up sometime, its ok, no one in here is gonna try anything. You just need to calm down."

About an hour went by and after the first 30 minutes students began to sit down on the floor huddled in one big group with the few bravest (including Leslie) sitting on the outside and the rust crouched down behind them. Leslie knew not everyone could be as brave because some of them hadn't been through what she had been through. Fiona's drug and alcohol problems made her strong, and she had seen a lot, Leslie was so brave she seemed void of all emotion but inside, she was screaming. Leslie needed to devise a plan maybe she could create a diversion and sneak out thou-

Just as she was coming up with a master plan Hunters cell phone rang, Leslie could hear the buzzing of the other person but she could by no means make out any words.

"Hello?" Hunter sounded annoyed like he really wished the person hadn't contacted him. Leslie figured it was some communications department with the police, who was beginning to bargain for their lives, but it wasn't.

"Where are you?" "Can you get a clean shot?" 'Take it when you see it, alright? By- Wait!" "Watch my window and door if anyone tries to sneak out kill them."

Leslie was in disbelief, Hunter actually had accomplices, she knew that she needed to know more, so the only thing left to do was bait Hunter into spilling all his secrets.


	8. The Plan

Medics were spread throughout the room, giving people CPR, lifting them away on gurneys, and even covering them with sheets. Detective Dignan had never seen anything like this in his line of work, and he knew nothing could ever prepare him for it. His stomach began to turn and bile began to rise in his throat, he turned around and regurgitated in the corner of the room by a pile of rocks. After he could control the urge to vomit yet again he headed over to the body in the center of the room that the medics were attending to.

"Gunshot wound to the head, signs of trauma, I'm not getting a pulse, charge to 300!" Said a medic as they shocked him repeatedly

"What's the deal? Is he dead?" detective Dignan was rather impatient but he knew he needed to let them do their work

"He's dead, there's nothing we could have done."

Dignan immediately got on his radio and had a cadet bring the head of the intelligence, who had been studying the pictures of students within the room during the whole stakeout, to identify the student.

It had been several minutes but finally the agent arrived

"Now I know this is going to be hard to look at but I need you to tell me who this is" Dignan was as sincere as he could, he knew that seeing a corpse for the first time was never an easy thing, he also knew working in the intelligence unit in Freeport, didn't guarantee you to see a corpse very often "Now which student is this?"

5 HOURS EARLIER

When Hunter hung up the phone, even more tension and fear spread throughout the room, and Leslie knew she wasn't the only one who heard Hunter's conversation. Sirens were still buzzing outside, she could hear them coming from far away and getting louder, and louder. Leslie felt like she was going to throw up, she had no idea what Hunter had planned for them, part of her wanted to talk to him and try to get him to calm down, but she didn't know if that would help or hurt the situation, and Leslie didn't want to be responsible for Hunter going off on another student. Most of the girls in the room were sitting in the fetal position crying their eyes out; even a few guys were starting to get teary eyes. By no means was Leslie about to cry, she wasn't capable of it. Years with Fiona made her numb to many emotions of sadness and fear, she learned to deal with it eventually, and the truth was Leslie had forgotten how to cry. That didn't mean that she wasn't feeling sad or scared, she just didn't know how to show it. The classroom phone started to ring, and it startled Hunter, but Leslie knew he wouldn't get it. Then eventually like all phones, after you don't answer for a while, the ringing stopped. Then it began again, whoever was on the other line must have tried five or six times. Hunter began to rub his eyes with agitation.

"Just answer the phone, Hunter." Leslie was so annoyed with the persistent ringing, that her tone was really hostile

Surprisingly Hunter made no objections, except that the dirty look he tossed her way, and then he went over to the telephone and put it on speaker.

"Hello?!" Hunter was trying to be all tough, but Leslie knew he was regretting this

"Yes hello, is this Hunter?"

"Who the fuck wants to know?"

"Oh, this is Detective Dignan with the Freeport police department; I'm going to connect you with a friend of mine that I'd like you to talk to"

"Hello no! I don't want to talk to anyone; I'm the only one here who is going to make any demands.

"Well name your terms, what is it that you would like?"

Hunter hung up the phone, and everyone could tell he was uncomfortable.

"No one ever order me to answer the fucking phone again! You got that? The next person who steps out of line, is gonna have a bullet in their skull." Hunter was getting careless now, making threats, Leslie was the only one who knew what would come next; She anticipated that they would be suck in this classroom for quite sometime, and sooner or later Hunter was going to try something. Marcy was getting fidgety and Peter's leg was going numb from her on his lap for almost 2 hours, so he moved his leg, which forced her out of hid lap, sending Hunter into a panic, he was facing the opposite direction again but in a split second he thought Peter was going to try something so he shot him, in the leg! Peter began screaming as a warm stream of dark red flowed from his leg. Marcy began to scream as Peter began to wince in pain and start to cry. Leslie shot up and started to head over to where Peter was sitting.

"Sit the fuck down!" Hunter pointed he gun at Leslie

"He needs help" Leslie's voice quivered

"I'll be the one to decide that"

"That doesn't work for me Hunter, you are the one who decided to shoot him, and if you don't let me help, he is going to die! If we make it out of this, which it looks like we are because I saw your face after you shot him, you can either go to jail for a few years because you have a severe anger problem and decided to pull a gun on your peers, or you can go to jail for life because you shot an innocent kid! What's it gonna be?"

The whole time Leslie was yelling Peter was just sitting there mumbling about how much it hurt, how he was going to die, and how much he loved his mom and dad.

"Fine you can help him,"

Leslie shot up and was almost to Peter,

"You can help him, but Marcy has to do it, whatever you are going to do, talk her through it."

"It would just be a lot easier if I just did it myself,"

"Don't argue just do it!" Hunter pointed the gun at her once more, Leslie knew this wasn't going to be easy, Marcy was a shaky mess.

"Ok, Marcy"

Marcy pulled her head up from her knees, he eyes were bloodshot, and her cheeks were all wet from her tears.

"I cc-ant" whispered Marcy

"Yes you can! You can save him, look at me, I will talk you through everything and we can save him, together!"

"No, no, I'm not a doctor, I can't do it!" Marcy's sobbing got stronger and she could barley make a sentence amidst the wet sobs.

Leslie needed something to absorb the blood with, but this was a high school science lab, she didn't see anything that could help her.

"Ok, Marcy you are going to need to take off your sweater." She had a cute little pastel pink sweater with intricate beading, regardless of how expensive it probably was, Peter needed it more. "You are going to use it as a bandage, when you apply it to his leg, push down as hard as you can and keep your hand there, do you understand? Do not remove your hand!"

Marcy did as she was instructed, and she pushed the sweater against his leg, and immediately the sweater turned red as the blood soaked into it.

"There's too much blood I need something bigger!" Marcy was panicking

"No! Marcy don't take your hand off his leg, I know there is a lot of blood but that's just gonna have to do." By this time Peter was slipping in and out of consciousness due to his heavy blood loss, Leslie was no doctor but any idiot, even Tom, could see that the odds weren't in his favor.

"Now you see what you made me do!" Hunter shouted "If you would have just listened to me, I wouldn't have shot him! Now I'm only gonna say this one more time, so listen good, if anyone else speak out of line, or try anything, I will kill them!"

Poor Marcy was soaked in blood; she removed one hand to wipe the sweat from her brow, but just ended up getting blood all over her face. The heavy sobbing had lapsed, and now the occasional tear would fall on her cheek. In her side vision, Leslie could see Tom sliding over inch by inch getting closer to her.

"Psst, Leslie"

"Hm?" She wanted to be as vague as possible, incase anyone could hear them

"What are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?" By this time Hunter was way in the other corner of the room so they were able to whisper freely amongst themselves.

"I mean there is a crazy ass kid with a gun! Now you and I are the sanest two of the bunch, so we need to devise a plan to get out of here!"

The sentence Tom just uttered was almost laughable to Leslie. She couldn't believe that he just referred to himself as somewhat intelligent, he was obviously mistaken.

"I don't think we should do anything Tom, Hunter is unstable and trying to devise a clever little plan will only make more trouble. The cops are obviously outside, so why don't we just wait for them to rescue us?"

"Because we don't have any god damn time! Hunter has already lost it once, who's to say he won't do it again?"

"As long as we all keep quiet, we can stay alive"

"Fuck that! Who the hell knows what's going on in his sick fuck of a mind, I'm not going to sit here and wait for him to blow up."

Little did Tom know Leslie already had a plan, but it was way too complicated for her to sit and explain to him, Leslie's only concern was making sure no one tried to come up with a plan, because it would seriously screw up hers.

"Tom, it will be ok, someone will rescue us."

"No they won't!" Tom's voice was getting, louder and Leslie saw Hunter start to walk over, so in that instant she grabbed his arm and twisted it as hard as she could.

"Tom, listen and you listen real good, if you try anything I will have Hunter-"

"What the hell is this? I said no talking!" Hunter was pointing the gun at Tom

"It's my fault Hunter, you see I heard something on the other side of that wall, and well I'm pretty sure it's the cops."

Hunter immediately made a mad dash for the door locking it behind him; Leslie knew he would proceed to call one of his insiders from out in the hallway, which would give her just the time she needed.

"Ok everyone, listen up." Said Leslie in the loudest whisper she could muster "I have a plan"


	9. Diversion

"Do you hear me? Which student is this?" Dignan was starting to get impatient, they had been waiting for an answer for about five minutes, and it couldn't have been too hard there were only about 25 in the classroom. "Alright," Dignan rubbed his eyes and pushed his fingers through his hair "I know this is hard, but I need to know who it is,"

"Well I, don't know..." said the agent with a quivering voice

"You don't know?"

"No, I'm very sorry"

"You're telling me that you have been down there for five hours, studying those faces and you don't know which kid this is?" Dignan looked at the cadet to his left and told him to get someone who did know

"You misunderstand me detective; I don't know who this is because they aren't on my list."

"Excuse me?"

"Whoever this is, they aren't on the list."

"So you're saying that our team of fucking over paid agents gave you the wrong list?"

"No-"

"Oh good!"

"What I'm saying is that whoever this is wasn't in the science class, and whoever this is wasn't supposed to be in this room. They came in, willingly or they were forced in."

4 HOURS EARLIER

The room began to get stuffy, and the stress was beginning to get to Leslie. Things were beginning to unravel, there was an innocent person on the floor bleeding to death, and she could tell that Hunter had no plan. Fortunately, Leslie had a plan, but as far as good plans go this really wasn't one. She needed to create some kind of diversion so Hunter would be distracted outside of the room, which would give her barely enough time to tell the rest of the students what they had to do. Leslie felt herself incapable to think, everyone in the room was lifeless. For the first few hours most of the girls just cried non-stop, but after a while the water works came to a halt and the sobs ceased. No one was even moving anymore, the only person that was doing anything, was Marcy who had her hand over Peter's leg, to keep bleeding to a minimum. By this time Peter had lost consciousness completely and was getting paler by the second. Leslie was no doctor but she knew from the hours spent in her room, watching the discovery health channel, that a person can only lose so much blood before it kills them. Leslie looked over at Tom, who was staring down at his hands, she admired his arm hair which in Leslie's opinion was so manly, and she moved her eyes toward his brown leather fossil watch which was purposely made to look weathered. Tom was sweaty and the stress of the situation began to make large bags under his eyes, which were semi-blood shot. In that moment Tom locked eyes with Leslie, he gave her that kind of look that you get when someone needs to ask you something. At the moment all sense of higher knowledge and partial telepathic communication, led Leslie to believe Tom knew how to create a diversion. Leslie began to scoot towards him inch by inch, which didn't prove to be very difficult since they were about two feet apart. Leslie was so nervous, she could feel the sweat on her thighs and under arms; this was something she had to do subtlety so she wouldn't give herself away. She finally got a little closer to Tom in all her sweaty glory and he wasted no time.

"We need to create a diversion." Leslie immediately thought she had overestimated him. She had forgotten for a split second that Tom was a complete idiot, she forgot to consider hat he might be a step or two behind. "What is your plan?"

"My plan doesn't matter unless we have a diversion. I need you to help me think of a way to distract him, so I can tell you, Mitchell and Emily my plan."

"Why Mitchell and Emily?"

"Because they ar- look don't question me, we don't have time!" Leslie felt her whole being swell up with frustration, she felt like he didn't trust her enough to get them out of it.

"I was I 'm not questioning you, I just want to know what you have planned."

"It's kind of a complex plan, so once you figure out a way to distract Hunter without taking yourself out of the equation, then I will be happy to explain it to you."

"Ok, look give me five minutes or so."

Leslie didn't want to waste time moving back to her spot, so she just rested her head on her knees, hoping that Hunter wouldn't think about how close they were. It had been about ten minutes and Tom still hadn't given her any sign that there was a plan. They had no more time, Hunter was standing in front of her.

"Get up!" He seemed so annoyed with her

"Why? What did I do?" Leslie wanted to stall as long as possible

"Because I fucking said so, now do it!"

Then all of the sudden Tom stood up and interjected.

"Stop!"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, stop it! We have more important things to worry about."

"Like what asshole?"

It was in that moment Leslie realized, that this was the plan.


	10. Goodbye?

Sgnt

Sgnt. Dignan had to walk away, or he might have hit the agent. This was a young person, a kid, a student, and all he wanted was an identity so he could give the family some kind of closure. He stopped for a moment to think; which was something not recommended when you are a cop working a case. There isn't room or time for emotions, you think rationally to solve the case and worry about emotions later. This wasn't a normal case, it was a massacre. They didn't need suspects they already knew who committed the crime, they needed to id victims. Dignan was a new father, so he didn't have much experience in the way of children, since his was still in diapers, but regardless he knew that if someone ever hurt his kid, he would want that son of a bitch to get whatever they deserved. Just the thought of all the people that would be emotionally wrecked from this situation sent him into a panic; he knew he needed to do something. Dignan reached for his phone and called the chief. He explained the situation, and the chief sent an artist down right away. Dignan had hoped that if he could get at least a semi-accurate sketch of what this student looked like before a bullet made a gaping hole in their head, then they could have a student or staff member identify the drawing.

3 HOURS EARLIER

After Tom and Hunter had shouted at each other for a while, Hunter dialed a phone number and stepped into the hallway. Leslie tried as hard as she possibly could to hear what Hunter was saying, but he was too far away. Leslie made a quick slide across the linoleum over to Tom;

"Did you think of a plan?" Leslie spoke in a rushed whisper

"Well- n- ye- it's not very good" To seemed very unsure of himself, but Leslie knew they had to move fast because they didn't have much time.

"Well, what is it??"

"Ok so when Hunter comes back in here I will be hiding behind the-"

Leslie was waiting for a response,

"Behind the what?"

Tom was just staring behind Leslie, and in that moment she knew Hunter was behind her. She looked behind her slowly taking in every detail on Hunter; the mud on his shoes, the blood on his pants, and the sweat on his brow.

"What in the hell are you two doing!?"

"Hunter please,"

"No shut the fuck up! You have ruined everything, why didn't you just leave when I asked you to!? You didn't deserve this but now you know too much, I'm sorry but I can't let you lea-" Hunter pointed the gun towards Leslie's head while the rest of the class watched paralyzed. Leslie looked around at their faces waiting for them to do something, but no one moved. Part of her was aggravated at their fear, but she realized she would have done the same thing. As she looked around at all the people she claimed to hate, and claimed to never want to see again as long as she lived, she realized something. Even though these people made her angrier then Fiona, she loved them, and she would be damned if she let Hunter take them away from her, so she had to act. Leslie conjured up every bit of courage she had in her body and stood up, right in front of the gun.

"Forget everyone else Hunter, it's just me and you, like that one night in the park, do you remember?"

"Yeah, I do. You treated me like a normal person; we sat and talked for hours"

"Hunter, that was one of the best nights I have had here, and I don't want things to end like this. A hostage is way better then a bunch of dead people, you can drag the cops at the end of a string if you have a hostage."

"Which one of them do I take?"

Hunter looked around, considering mostly female options

"Me."

"What, why you?"

"I'll go wherever you want, I won't fight, I'll be so much less trouble."

Hunter just stood there staring at her. Leslie didn't know what he was thinking.

"Hunter, we have to go now, the cops have been out there for god knows how long, they could bust in here any second. What do you say?"

"Ok, lest go, if anyone tried anything I'll kill you all!"

Leslie walked in front of him to lead the way through the maze of disarranged desks. Just in that moment Tom stood up, with a look no one had ever given her before, like he wanted to run after her but Johnny and some other guys held him back. Leslie took one last glance at him, and she saw tears in his eyes, she didn't know if she would ever see him again.


End file.
